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What ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 Made Jennifer Coolidge Fight: Seasickness and “Evil Gays”?

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Rest in peace, Tanya McQuoid. While we’re sad about the season 2 ending of “The White Lotus,” where the show’s “crown jewel” kills a few “high-end gays,” falls off a yacht, hits her head on a dinghy, and falls into the water the Ionian Sea is drowning, the internet is full of Jennifer Coolidge memes. (She knows about it.)

Tanya learns that Quentin (Tom Hollander) is trying to trick her, but as she prepares to escape back to the land, she slips and drowns herself, a shocking death that even the craziest theories couldn’t predict. As for why Tanya didn’t put the pieces together sooner, Coolidge told Variety, “It is too hard for people to admit to themselves that there is that kind of evil in the world. Nobody wants to believe that.”

In the season 2 finale, Tanya battled “bad gays” while Coolidge was sick at sea. “After season 1 of ‘White Lotus’ I told Mike I never wanted to be on a boat again, but I had to be on two yachts,” she says. “I was so nauseous.”

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Coolidge, who won an Emmy in September for playing Tanya in Season 1, sat down with Variety after the end of the second season to talk about how her own “obscurity” inspired the character, how she became an instant meme, and what ‘The White Lotus” has meant for her and her career.

When did you first find out that you would be the big kill at the end of this season, and what did you do when Mike told you?

It didn’t make me happy. But Mike White is smart, so I knew my story would end well. When he told me I was going to die he didn’t know how it would end because he didn’t plan it all out.

I was sad, but Mike tells stories better than anyone, so I knew I had to believe it. You can’t talk Mike White out of anything, so I’ll just have to have some other adventures this year and maybe go see Mike when they’re filming. [Season 3].

Tanya dies when she falls off the boat and hits her head on the dinghy. Didn’t she see the ladder?

Tanya didn’t notice! Mike White thinks it’s really funny that I can handle big things, but not the little things. For example, I can’t do something great because I don’t know how to use my phone or something.

These little things bother me. It was just me, and I even heard Mike say that to someone else. I missed something that could have saved my life.

Do you speak as you, Jennifer, or as the character Tanya?

I’m saying Mike took that idea from me, Jennifer Coolidge, and turned it into Tanya’s ignorance.

How did you put that scene together?

It was late at night on a rough boat. After Season 1 of “White Lotus,” I told Mike I never wanted to be on a boat again, but to be on two yachts. I felt really sick. I don’t thrive in these boats.

On that boat I didn’t feel well for a long time and I had to kill people and run around. There was a lot of movement on that boat.

Tanya had already seen the photo and told Portia about Quentin and Jack, so why do you think it took her so long to put everything together and plan her escape? She didn’t want to believe it, or she was too scared to move.

Mike wrote these scenes as if they came from a dream: “Did I really see that? Is that real, or am I just making it up?” Tanya is a very broken person who is not always nice but she would never kill anyone or do anything bad. It’s hard for a naive, innocent person to imagine someone who wouldn’t mind killing someone else.

People on juries often say things like: “I thought he was innocent because I don’t think anyone could kill their own child or wife.” Like, oh my God! They do it every day! Someone is doing that somewhere in the world.

People don’t believe anything until they’re way too deep into it, because it’s too hard for them to admit to themselves that there’s such evil in the world. No one wants to think this is true.

Tanya asks Quentin in her final moments if Greg is seeing anyone else. How does that describe her?

So much is said in that sentence. First, women really care about that. And remember, this is a drama-comedy. This show is full of funny bits. Tanya wants to know the answer to that question, even though there are corpses all over the floor and the scene is very scary.

I loved it when I read it. She also really wants to know. People want to know if she really understood everything. She talks to Portia about putting the pieces together, but that deep denial is just crazy.

How does it feel to be a gay icon who kills a group of “high-end gays” who intended to kill you?

This sounds like Mike White. I wouldn’t have thought of that situation myself, it wouldn’t have occurred to me. Gays can be mean, but in most movies I’ve seen, they’re the good guys.

But Mike White made these guys look like they had no soul and were really bad. He told me, “Eventually you fall for this group of, well, let’s just say they’re evil gays.” I was so impressed that I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Tanya doesn’t notice, but she’s finally appreciated, and for the first time on this terrible journey, she’s having a good time.

Do you know that the phrase “These gays are trying to kill me” has become a meme?

Yes, I got that from a few people this morning.

When you read the line, did you expect that to happen?

No. That was one of the last scenes I filmed for the show and I was sick and everything. I should have thought of a lot of things that made sense.

So many different things are sent to me. For some reason you don’t think about memes when you make a movie. Maybe there were other people on the show, but I didn’t know how to recognize them.

Do you like any of the rules you made up on the spot?

I told Mike about one line and he put it in the script. I had just bought a big house in New Orleans, and my dad was upset because he thought I was over my head in it. My aunt pulled me aside and said: “Sometimes old buildings are more important than people.” And I told Mike White that, but he wrote it in a different way in the script.

Tanya tells Quentin on the boat, “There aren’t enough people out there who care about old buildings.” He does a great job of putting all these things together.

Mike came up with one of my favorite lines, “These are some high-end gays.” I liked when Tanya was happy because she was so sad most of season 1 and the first part of season 2.

There’s another great line about how rich people don’t care about you stealing their money, so they let you in. That is the truth! I made up a lot of stuff on the spot. Some of them worked and some of them didn’t. But Mike White said 99.9% of my favorite lines.

How does it feel to say goodbye to Tanya McQuoid? What has “The White Lotus” meant to you and your career?

Coming out of COVID and making Season 1 of “White Lotus” was kind of the beginning of good times for me. It is a gift to be able to play in this very cool story. Even though I know Mike White is a genius and all, I never thought “White Lotus” would be such a big deal.

I remember thinking, “This is good,” but there are a lot of good things on TV that never get attention. I didn’t know what to expect, but it turned out to be something huge.

And staying on “White Lotus” for Season 2 has changed my life. The offers! It doesn’t matter if I can do these projects or not. I never thought in a million years that I could do something exciting.

There’s comedy in ‘White Lotus’, but before that my only dramatic part was in it “Bad Lieutenant: New Orleans Port of Call,” Nicolas Cage starred in, and I don’t know how many people saw it. “White Lotus” has opened many doors for me and Mike White will always be my friend.

I couldn’t have planned this moment, and that’s one of the cool things about life: sometimes the best things are things you never thought of. Even after two years I’m still in shock… Just follow us on Lee Daily for more news like this.


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